Leadership,Psychology,Tournaments
9 October 2011
When I talk about my sport, I struggle to decide what to call it: ultimate or Frisbee? The latter dredges up images of dogs chasing plastic across a stretch of fresh grass, certainly better manicured than any fields we ever get a chance to use. The former is just silly (a sport named after an adjective?!), the product of stoned hippies discovering a new game they could play that would allow them to feel like athletes for an hour or two. “Hey man, this shit is the ultimate!” they’d opine in between drags from a joint and cups of beer (certainly applying the same statement to their bud or brew). I suppose I should feel lucky that they chose “ultimate” over another adjective–I could be playing “groovy Frisbee.”
Psychology,Tournaments
30 September 2011
So my last post was about how to approach games where your team significantly outmatches your opponent. But the more interesting question is what to do when your opponent is significantly stronger than you.
If your team is one of those teams that takes themselves seriously, then you probably have goals. And if those goals are appropriately high, then you probably have a team ahead of you that you need to beat (unless you play for Fury or Revolver). Maybe your goal is to make the second day of Regionals or make Nationals or make quarters or win everything. In all divisions, those teams on their respective bubble are wondering how to knock off that team just ahead of them.
Psychology,Tournaments
1 July 2011
There’s something magical and truly indescribable about playing competitive team sports. If you’re reading this, you’ve likely had the experience yourself and have possibly struggled to describe it to people in the “real world.” While driving back to Toronto from the Boston Invite 2 days ago I was, once again, thinking about how amazing these experiences are, particularly this year as I struggled heavily with finding my mojo.
Clinics,Main,Tournaments
16 June 2011
For 2 years I’ve run Ultimate Rob (www.ultimaterob.com). In that time, I’ve published roughly 50 articles and posted more than 60 videos. My goal when I started the website was for it to be the go to website for ultimate frisbee but very quickly I realized that it wasn’t feasible – both from a time perspective on my side and from a searching perspective from a user side. I decided to instead focus on writing articles and filming videos that would help people very simply “Play Ultimate Better”.
Featured,Practice,Psychology,Spirit of the Game,Tournaments,Training
12 April 2011
I’m often asked by players who have just started playing ultimate if I have any tips for how they can get better. I have answered this question enough that I felt it was worth posting it as an article. Leave a comment and let me know what your best tip is for a newbie!
1. THROW
Throw, throw, throw. Either on your own or with a friend. The best way to improve your throw (and the muscles used for throwing) is to simply go out and throw. Be aware of your body and don’t push it so you get hurt. Figure out what technique works best for you for certain throws and work to improve your throw – if there’s something going weird with it, ask for advice. Keep working on it…never stop 
